AUTO RACING; Kerry, the Other Earnhardt, Is Coming On

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was assigned a stall at the farthest end of pit road for a Nascar Busch Grand National race last week. Race fans soon found out, and the area behind his crew's tools and spare tires quickly became jammed.

Earnhardt is the rock star of stock cars. A velvet rope should be used in the pits to separate the workers from the gawkers.

Pedestrian traffic flowed much more freely behind the pit of Earnhardt's older brother, Kerry, who is 33 and has had a far tougher time making it as a racer than Dale Earnhardt Jr. or their late father, Dale Sr., the seven-time Winston Cup champion.

After he pulled himself out of his blue Chevrolet, satisfied with his 14th-place finish, Kerry Earnhardt had plenty of time to inspect his car in silence. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was mobbed in Victory Lane, but Kerry Earnhardt did not seem to mind losing to his brother.

He is scheduled to compete this season in every Busch race, including a 200-mile race Saturday in Rockingham, N.C., where he qualified 14th yesterday. Like his brother, Earnhardt has a corporate sponsor, a chain of haircut salons that prop his life-size cardboard cutout next to the door.

His team is co-owned by Terry Bradshaw, the television announcer and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, and plans to run a full Winston Cup schedule next year.

But first Kerry Earnhardt will try to qualify for seven Winston Cup races this season, beginning with a 500-mile race March 30 at Texas Motor Speedway outside Fort Worth.

His brother has already won seven Winston Cup races and more than $14 million in his 112-race career. Kerry Earnhardt drove in one Winston Cup race, crashed and finished last at Michigan three years ago; he won $21,830.

But keeping pace is not the point.

''Kerry realizes that Dale Jr. has come a long way, too,'' said Kerry's wife, Rene. ''He doesn't ever compare himself to anybody.''

That is probably a good thing, because Kerry Earnhardt's racing career cannot be plotted on a straight line. He was born when Dale Sr. was 18. Kerry stayed with his mother when his parents divorced and was raised by his mother's new husband.

Kerry and Dale Sr. did not rekindle their relationship until Kerry was a teenager and Dale Sr. had two more children, Kelley and Dale Jr. Eventually, Earnhardt Sr. formed a racing team for them -- Chance Racing -- and Kelley and Dale Jr. were naturals.

Kerry scuffled more. When Earnhardt Sr. folded Chance Racing, in part to finance a new team, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Kerry was without a ride. He worked at his father's Chevrolet dealership for a while.

''Kerry's a very reserved person,'' Rene Earnhardt said. ''He's one of those guys who goes day by day. I don't really think he's set a goal as to what he can do.''

In a 1999 interview with Sports Illustrated, Earnhardt Sr. said: ''Kerry just crashes too much. He's still driving, and it might work out, but he's married now, a couple of kids, and he can't give the sport the attention it needs. It's hard when you have kids.''

But Kerry, with a last name that appealed to sponsors, would get his break. Armando Fitz, a former employee of Felix Sabates, had formed a Busch team, and he needed a full-time driver for the 2002 season.

''We felt he was primed for the picking,'' Bradshaw said.

Dale Earnhardt Inc. formed an alliance with Fitz in hopes of finding a competitive Busch ride for Kerry. He had won three of five races in a lower racing series, but his father's fatal accident on Feb. 18, 2001, curtailed his plans to race more.

''He may not be as young as the other kids,'' Fitz said, ''but he just doesn't have the seat time.''

Fitz said Kerry Earnhardt had not even seen 9 of the first 14 Busch Series tracks before he raced on them last season. He was also scheduled to qualify for three Winston Cup races, but qualifying for all three was rained out, so he did not make the field.

But he did get faster, finishing in the top 10 in three of the last seven Busch races of the season.

''The kid's got talent,'' Fitz said. ''Some people talk about him crashing all the time, but most of those weren't his fault, and he's not afraid to stick cars in places he shouldn't stick them.''

That makes Kerry Earnhardt sound, of course, as if he inherited his machismo. He has a thick mustache, like his father, and he speaks in a low, rambling grumble, like his father. He bears more of a resemblance to his father than Dale Jr. does.

''It's spooky to be around him,'' Bradshaw said of Kerry Earnhardt. ''He just looks and acts so much like his father.''

Kerry Earnhardt is capable of attracting attention on his own. He had to drop to the rear of the field for last Saturday's race because he wrecked his car in practice Friday -- Johnny Sauter's fault, he said -- but he steadily moved up in the field in his backup car.

''We're going to have some wins,'' he said, ''and we're definitely going to finish in the top five in points, if not better.''

Earnhardt Jr., 28, has started a Busch racing team with his stepmother, Teresa. It is called Chance II Racing. He explained that the name was a salute to his father, who had helped his children go racing.

''This is my little baby, in a way,'' Earnhardt Jr. said.

Meanwhile, Rene Earnhardt is expecting a baby, her first with Kerry. As bright as the future looks for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kerry Earnhardt also has things to look forward to. ''You just keep fighting,'' he said.